Profiled strip device

ABSTRACT

A shaped-section slat device comprising a shaped-section slat ( 1 ) having a visible face ( 10 A) and two longitudinal edges having male and female assembly means ( 18, 20 ). The male assembly means ( 18 ) are connected to the visible face ( 10 A) via an intermediate zone having a plane visible margin ( 22 ) set back relative to said visible face ( 10 A), said male assembly means themselves being set back relative to said visible margin ( 22 ). Each of the longitudinal edges of the slat is provided with a groove in which an assembly strip can be inserted so that it projects from said groove over a width greater than the depth of the other groove.

[0001] The present invention relates to a shaped-section slat devicecomprising a shaped-section slat which has a visible face, a firstlongitudinal edge of the slat having male assembly means and a secondlongitudinal edge of said slat, opposite from said first edge, havingfemale assembly means, suitable for co-operating by inter-fitting withthe male assembly. means on the first longitudinal edge of another,analogous slat.

[0002] In particular the shaped-section slat is a slat made of anextruded plastics material. Such slats are manufactured in long lengthsand they are designed to be placed on a support, in particular a wall ora ceiling, while being assembled together via their longitudinal edges.

[0003] The assembly should be as attractive in appearance as possible.In particular, the assembly is attractive in appearance if the slats areassembled together accurately. In generally, when the slats areassembled together, the boundaries between them are quite visible andform recessed lines between their visible faces. To achieve suchassembly, the male assembly means of one slat are inserted in the femaleassembly means of the. adjacent slat. In this situation, the visiblefaces of the two slats are disposed edge-to-edge. However, the boundarybetween said visible faces can be seen and is in the form of a recessedline. Such a line is not always attractive in appearance, and, dependingon the conditions under which the various slats are assembled together,the recessed lines are not always mutually identical. That can be due tothe depth to which the male assembly means penetrate into the femaleassembly means, which depth naturally determines the width of therecessed line of assembly.

[0004] An object of the invention is to provide a shaped-section slatdevice that improves the conditions under which the slats are assembledtogether, and in particular the attractiveness of the appearance of theresulting assembly.

[0005] This object is achieved by that fact that the male assembly meansare connected to the visible face via an intermediate zone having aplane visible margin set back relative to said visible face and situatedin a plane substantially parallel to the plane of said visible face,said male assembly means themselves being set back relative to saidvisible margin.

[0006] By means of these provisions, the visible margin can be seenbetween to adjacent slats, assembled together via their longitudinaledges. Said margin is set back relative to the visible faces of theslats and the eye is more sensitive to the presence of the visiblemargin, which is of substantially constant width, than to detecting theexact position of the join between the slats (which join is situated atthe end of the female assembly means of one slat and at the edge of thevisible margin which is connected to the male assembly means of theother slat).

[0007] In addition, the depth to which the male assembly means of oneslat penetrate into the female assembly means of the other slat islimited by the edge of the visible margin from which said male assemblymeans are set back.

[0008] Advantageously, said edge forms a step which constitutes anabutment so that the male assembly means of all of the slats penetrateinto the female assembly means to exactly the same depth.

[0009] In addition, the visible margin is itself set back relative tothe visible face by being advantageously connected to said face viaanother step. When two slats are assembled together, the eye issensitive to the step formed between the visible margin and the visibleface of the first slat. The eye is also sensitive to another step formedbetween the adjacent edge of the second slat (in which edge the femaleassembly means are formed), and the visible margin of the first slat.

[0010] The eye cannot distinguish easily between the two steps, so that,from some distance away, it is not easy to determine which of the twoslats is the slat of which the visible margin is part. In other words,the recessed line usually formed by edge-to-edge assembly between theedge of the second slat and the male assembly means of the first slat isno longer noticeable, but rather it is the visible margin flanked by twosteps that look identical to each other that catches the eye. Thus, theassembly is more clear-cut and thus more attractive in appearance.

[0011] Advantageously, the shaped-section slat has first and secondtransverse edges, each of which is provided with a groove formed underthe visible face, and the device further comprises an assembly stripsuitable for being inserted into said grooves, the width of said stripbeing such that, when it is inserted in one of said grooves, it projectsfrom said groove over a width greater than the depth of the othergroove.

[0012] The assembly strip makes it possible to assemble together aplurality of slats via their respective transverse edges, by disposingthem end-to-end. For example, the shaped-section slats can be cut to thedesired length, and they can then be assembled together so that theylook like tiling with large tiles, the longitudinal edges of the slatsbeing interconnected by the above-mentioned male and female assemblymeans, while their transverse edges are interconnected by the stripsinserted in the grooves in the facing edges of the slats.

[0013] In such an assembly, the visible margins are visible at thelongitudinal joins between the slats, as mentioned above, while middlezones of the strips are also visible, because the width of each of thestrips is greater than the sum of the widths of the grooves in which itis inserted.

[0014] Very advantageously, when the strip is inserted in one of saidgrooves, it projects from said groove over a width substantially equalto the sum of the width of the visible margin and of the depth of theother groove.

[0015] By means of this characteristic, when a plurality of slats areassembled together as mentioned above, the visible widths of the stripsare substantially equal to the widths of the apparent margins. Insofaras the visible margins are set back, while the strips are also set backbecause they are inserted in the grooves, the visible margins and thevisible widths of the strips have, as seen from some distance away, anappearance analogous to the appearance of tiling grouting recessedrelative to the tiles.

[0016] In an advantageous embodiment, the shaped-section slat has afront face and a back face respectively having the visible face and theback face and interconnected by interconnecting webs, and the groovesare formed by notches cut in the interconnecting webs.

[0017] When the slats are extruded, it is frequent for them to have afront wall and a back wall interconnected by interconnecting webs. Inthe invention, the slats extruded in this way can be cut to the desiredlengths and, in order to form the grooves, it is necessary merely to cutnotches in the interconnecting webs on the transverse edges of theslats. The notches can be formed very easily by means of a cutting toolof the milling cutter type, the position and actuation of which areadjusted so that the notches are formed immediately underneath the frontwall of the slat.

[0018] In an advantageous configuration, the device comprises aplurality of analogous shaped-section slats and a sheet of assemblystrips, said sheet being formed of assembly strips interconnected bypre-cut means making it possible to separate the strips from oneanother.

[0019] This configuration makes it possible for the slats to be packagedeasily for the purpose of selling them. All of the slats can be cut tothe same length or else they can be cut to different lengths, and theirtransverse edges are provided with the above-mentioned grooves. Theassembly strips can be formed by extruding assembly sheets having scorelines which form said pre-cut means. A strip is then formed between twoscore lines, and the strips can be separated from one another bymanually breaking up the sheet along the score lines, or else by cuttingit up using a tool operated by the final user and guided by the scorelines.

[0020] The invention will be well understood and its advantages willappear more clearly on reading the following detailed description of anembodiment shown by way of non-limiting example. The description isgiven with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0021]FIG. 1 is a cross-section view of a shaped-section slat that ispart of a device of the invention;

[0022]FIG. 2 is a longitudinal-section view showing how twoshaped-section slats are assembled together via their respectivelongitudinal edges;

[0023]FIG. 3 is a cross-section view showing how two shaped-sectionslats are assembled together via their respective longitudinal edges;

[0024]FIG. 4 is a plan view of a shaped-section slat that is part of thedevice of the invention;

[0025]FIG. 5 is a cross-section view of a sheet made up of a pluralityof assembly strips; and

[0026]FIG. 6 shows an assembly of a plurality of shaped-section boardson a support such as a wall.

[0027] The shaped-section slat 1 in FIG. 1 has a front wall 10 and aback wall 12 interconnected by interconnecting webs 14. By convention,the visible face 10A of the slat is the front face of the front wall,while the back face 12A is the back face of the back wall 12. The firstlongitudinal edge 16A of the slat has male assembly means 18 while thesecond longitudinal edge 16B has female assembly means 20.

[0028] In the plan view of FIG. 4, the visible face 10A is disposed onthe top and it can be seen that the male assembly means 18 are in theform of a continuous tongue along the length of the shaped-section slat,while the female assembly means are in the form of a groove formed undersaid visible face, along the longitudinal edge 16B of the slat, in whichgroove the tongue of the male assembly means can be disposed.

[0029] The male assembly means are connected to the visible face 10A viaan intermediate zone 17 which has a visible margin 2 set back relativeto the visible face 10A. The visible margin 22 is a plane margin that issubstantially parallel to the visible face 10A and that remains visiblewhen the male assembly means are inserted in the female assembly meansof another, adjacent slat, as can be seen in FIG. 3. As can be seen moreclearly in FIG. 3, the male assembly means 18 are connected to thevisible margin 22 by a riser 24 (or step) formed at an undercut angle(for example, the undercut angle a relative to a direction Dperpendicular to the plane of the visible margin is about 300). Thevisible margin 22 is also connected to the visible face 10A of the slatvia a step 23 or riser.

[0030] As can be seen in FIG. 3 for the shaped-section slat 1′ to whichthe shaped-section slat 1 provided with the male assembly means 18 isconnected, the female assembly means 20 are connected to the visibleface 10′A via a setback having an overhanging (re-entering) nose 26. Asa result, the contact between the slats 1 and 1′ takes place over zonesof very small area, and thus forms a clear-cut contact line. Inaddition, as seen from a direction D perpendicular to the visible facesof the slats, the top edge 26A of the overhanging nose 26 masks the edgeof the visible margin 22. When looking at the slats in the direction D,it is not possible to discern the zones of interruption between theslats, but rather it is merely observed that the visible margin 22 isset back relative to the visible faces 10A and 10′A, setbacks beingformed along the two longitudinal edges of the visible margin.

[0031] Behind the intermediate zone 17, the back face 12A has a set-backportion 12B and a projection 12C. The projection 12C rests on the tab12′ which is part of the shaped-section slat 1′ and which is formed atthe edge 16′B of said shaped-section slat, under the groove 20 of thefemale assembly means of which said tab defines the bottom. Thus, theprojection 12C can rest on the tab 12′ while making provision for theback faces of both of the slats 1 and 1′ to rest on the same bearingplane P. By means of the set-back zone 12B, an empty space 13 remainsabove the tab 12′, which makes it possible for the zone 17 to be movedto a small extent, so that it can be positioned correctly relative tothe slat 1′.

[0032] As can be seen in FIG. 3, the male assembly means 18 do not quitereach the end wall of the groove 20 because the contact between slatstakes place via the edge of the visible margin and the above-mentionedoverhanging nose. Similarly, the tab 12′ does not come into contact withthe setbacks 13′ from which the set-back portion 12B is formed. Theset-back portion and the projection 12C are disposed in succession inthe direction going towards the tongue 18.

[0033] The shaped-section slat 1 has two transverse edges, respectively28A and 28B, each of which is provided with an assembly groove. Moreprecisely, and as seen in FIG. 2, the transverse edge 28A has a groove30. The opposite transverse edge is provided with an analogous groove.FIG. 2 shows how the slat 1 is assembled with another, analogous slat1″, via their respective transverse edges 28A, 28″B, situated facingeach other. It can be seen that the transverse edge 28″B of the slat 1″is provided with a groove 30″ analogous to the groove 30.

[0034] An assembly strip 32 is inserted in the grooves 30 and 30″. Inthis situation, it can be seen that it reaches the end walls of thegrooves but that a middle portion 32A of said strip remains visible,from the side on which the visible faces 10A and 10″A of the two slatsare situated. Preferably, the width a of said portion 32A issubstantially equal to the width b of the visible margin 22 which can beseen when the slats 1 and 1′ are assembled together as shown in FIG. 3.For this purpose, when the strip is inserted in the groove 30, itprojects from said groove over a width substantially equal to the sum ofthe width b of the visible margin plus the depth of the other groove 30″in the other, analogous slat. Considering the same slat, the grooves 30in its two transverse edges can have the same depth, or differentdepths. What is important is that the width of the strip is determinedaccordingly. When referring above to the depths of the grooves 30, 30″,the important concept is actually the depth to which the strip 32penetrates into the grooves, which penetration depth can be limited byabutments other than then end walls of the grooves (e.g. steps formed onthe strip).

[0035] Advantageously, the thickness e of the slats, between the groove30 and the visible face 10A over the transverse edges of the slat (seeFIG. 2) is substantially equal to the depth E of the set-back betweenthe visible face 10A and the visible margin 22 over the firstlongitudinal edge of the slat. Thus, when various slats are assembledtogether, the visible portions 32A of the strips 32 and the visiblemargins 22 are situated substantially in the same plane parallel to thebearing plane of the slats, so that the visible potions of the stripsand of the visible margins look like grouting between tiles.

[0036] In this example, the shaped-section slat is not a solid slat, butrather the interconnecting webs impart apparent thickness to it. Inorder to form the grooves, it is necessary merely to cut out notches inthe interconnecting webs 14 as can be seen in FIG. 2. As can also beseen in FIG. 2, the grooves 30 are advantageously formed immediatelyunderneath the front wall 10 of the slat. In other words, over a smallthickness corresponding to the thickness of the groove 30, only the topsof the interconnecting webs 40 that connect said webs to the wall 10 arecut off. In which case, the depth E of the set-back between the visiblemargin 22 and the visible face 10A is itself substantially equal to thethickness of the wall 10. In the regions of the corners formed betweenthe transverse edges and the first longitudinal edge 16A of the margin,the male assembly means and the grooves 30 meet. Under thesecircumstances, as can be seen in FIG. 4, the grooves 30 locally removethe ends of the visible margin, the bottoms of the grooves beingsituated substantially in the same plane as the top face 18A of thetongue 18, which face is the face that faces towards the visible face10A.

[0037] The assembly strips can have a length substantially equal to thewidth L of the slat 1, as measured between its longitudinal edge onwhich the male assembly means are situated and the free edge of thevisible margin 22, or else it can have a longer length. In which case,it is possible to assemble together a plurality of groups of slats withthe same strip.

[0038] However, as can be seen in FIG. 6, the invention makes itpossible to assemble together shaped-section slats by offsetting themrelative to one another in the length direction. This avoids giving theassembly a monotonous appearance. For example, it can be seen that theslat 1 is assembled to a slat 1′ over its longitudinal edge, while it isassembled to the slat 1″ via a transverse edge, and while the transverseedge of the slat 1′ is substantially in the middle of the length of theslat 1. The join zones between the various slats are formed by thevisible margins 22 and by the visible portions 32A of the strips, whichmargins and portions have substantially the same width (thickness of the“false grouting”) and lie substantially in the same plane, set backrelative to the plane of the visible faces of the slats as connectedtogether.

[0039] Preferably, the strips and the visible margins have the samedecoration, which can be the same as the decoration on the visible facesof the slats or that can be slightly different therefrom. For example,the slats can be printed and varnished with a pattern reproducing aparticular appearance, e.g. the appearance of stone or of wood, whilethe visible margins and the strips can be plain, in order to look likegrouting. Insofar as the visible margins are set back relative to thevisible faces, it is easy to ensure that, while the visible faces of theslats are being decorated, the decoration is not also applied to thevisible margins. As for the strips, they are manufactured separately,and decorating them poses no difficulty.

[0040]FIG. 5 shows a sheet 34 of assembly strips 32 which areinterconnected by pre-cut means formed by score lines 33.Advantageously, in the regions of the score lines, the edges of thestrips are slightly beveled or rounded so as to make it easier to insertthem into the grooves 30 in the slats.

1. A shaped-section slat device comprising a shaped-section slat havinga visible face, a first longitudinal edge of the slat having maleassembly means and a second longitudinal edge of said slat, oppositefrom said first edge, having female assembly means, suitable forco-operating by inter-fitting with the male assembly means on the firstlongitudinal edge of another, analogous slat, the male assembly meansbeing are connected to the visible face via an intermediate zone havinga plane visible margin set back relative to said visible face andsituated in a plane substantially parallel to the plane of said visibleface, said male assembly means themselves being set back relative tosaid visible margin, and that the edge of the visible margin being issuitable, when the male assembly means of one slat are engaged in thefemale assembly means of an analogous slat, for co-operating in abutmentwith said female assembly means, so that the plane visible margin lookslike grouting between tiles.
 2. A device according to claim 1, whereinthe shaped-section slat has a back face opposite from the visible faceand defining a bearing plane, said back face having a set-back portionthat is set back relative to the bearing plane and a projection, saidset-back portion and said projection being disposed behind theintermediate zone and in succession in the direction going towards maleassembly means.
 3. A device according to claim 1, wherein the maleassembly means are connected to the visible margin via a riser disposedat an undercut angle. 4-10 (canceled).
 11. A device according to claim1, wherein the shaped-section slat has a back face opposite from thevisible face and defining a bearing plane, said back face having aset-back portion that is set back relative to the bearing plane and aprojection, said set-back portion and said projection being disposedbehind the intermediate zone and in succession in the direction goingtowards male assembly means, and wherein the male assembly means areconnected to the visible margin via a riser disposed at an undercutangle.
 12. A device according to claim 1, wherein the female assemblymeans are connected to the visible face via a setback having aoverhanging nose.
 13. A device according to claim 1, wherein the slathas first and second transverse edges, each of which is provided with agroove formed under the visible face, and wherein the device furthercomprises an assembly strip suitable for being inserted into saidgrooves, the width of said strip being such that, when said strip isinserted in one of said grooves, said strip projects from said grooveover a width greater than a depth of the other groove.
 14. A deviceaccording to claim 13, wherein, when the strip is inserted in one ofsaid grooves, said strip projects from said groove over a widthsubstantially equal to a sum of the width of the visible margin and ofthe depth of the other groove.
 15. A device according to claim 13,wherein a thickness of slat between the groove and the visible face overthe transverse edges is substantially equal to a depth of the set-backbetween the visible face and the visible margin over the firstlongitudinal edge of said slat.
 16. A device according to claim 13,wherein a thickness of slat between the groove and the visible face overthe transverse edges is substantially equal to a depth of the set-backbetween the visible face and the visible margin over the firstlongitudinal edge of said slat and wherein, when the strip is insertedin one of said grooves, said strip projects from said groove over awidth substantially equal to a sum of the width of the visible marginand of the depth of the other groove.
 17. A device according to claim13, wherein the slat has a front wall and a back wall, respectivelyhaving the visible face and the back face and interconnected byinterconnecting webs, and wherein said grooves are formed by notches cutin the interconnecting webs.
 18. A device according to claim 13, whereinthe strip and the visible margin have the same decoration.
 19. A deviceaccording to claim 14, wherein the strip and the visible margin have thesame decoration.
 20. A device according to claim 15, wherein the stripand the visible margin have the same decoration.
 21. A device accordingto claim 16, wherein the strip and the visible margin have the samedecoration.
 22. A device according to claim 13, further comprising aplurality of analogous shaped-section slats and a sheet of assemblystrips, said sheet being formed of assembly strips interconnected bypre-cut means making it possible to separate the strips from oneanother.